Badenoch's lack of empathy may come back to haunt her

The trouble with Kemi Badenoch is that if she sees someone lying on the ground, she can't resist the temptation to kick them. She lacks empathy, to put it politely.

- SEAN O'GRADY

There she was at Prime Minister’s Questions, facing an open goal for a change, and attacking the prime minister, who, even three days later, can look after himself. Then she spots the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, her lip quivering, seemingly on the brink of crying. Straight in goes the Badenoch boot - she said Reeves looked “absolutely miserable” and described her as Starmer’s “human shield”. After Starmer failed to confirm Reeves in post for the rest of the parliament — a tall order for any appointee - Badenoch piled on the punishment: “How awful for the chancellor that he did not confirm she would be in post.”